Essential Statistics, Regression, and Econometrics

CHAPTER 2

Displaying Data

Chapter Outline

2.1 Bar Charts

Bowlers’ Hot Hands

Bar Charts with Interval Data

2.2 Histograms

Letting the Data Speak

Understanding the Data

2.3 Time Series Graphs

Unemployment during the Great Depression

Cigarette Consumption

2.4 Scatterplots

Okun’s Law

The Fed’s Stock Valuation Model

Using Categorical Data in Scatter Diagrams

2.5 Graphs: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Omitting the Origin

Changing the Units in Mid-Graph

Choosing the Time Period

The Dangers of Incautious Extrapolation

Unnecessary Decoration

Exercises

A picture is worth a thousand words.

——Anonymous

Data are the building blocks of statistics. In later chapters, we summarize data and draw statistical inferences from data. In this chapter, we use visual displays to ...